Jasper is a town within Jasper National Park in the Canadian province of Alberta.
Location
Jasper is located in Jasper National Park near the British Columbia/Alberta border at an altitude of 1,062 m.
It can be reached from the west and east by the Yellowhead Highway (#16) and from the south by the Icefields Parkway (#93). The Icefields parkway begins at the intersection of Connaught Drive and the Yellowhead Highway.
Jasper is 287 km from Banff, Alberta, 362 km from Edmonton, Alberta, 414 km from Calgary, Alberta, and 863 km from Vancouver, British Columbia.
Population
Jasper has a population of 4,180 inhabitants.
Climate
Mean Daily Max/Min Temperature:
- Jan -7.8°C/-17.8°C
- Feb -0.6°C/-12.2°C
- Mar +3.2°C/-8.6°C
- Apr +9.6°C/-2.9°C
- May +15.6°C/+1.7°C
- Jun +19.2°C/+5.6°C
- Jul +22.5°C/+7.6°C
- Aug +21.4°C/+7.0°C
- Sep +16.4°C/+3.2°C
- Oct +10.3°C/-1.0°C
- Nov +0.7°C/-8.5°C
- Dec -4.9°C/-13.6°C
Mean Rainfall/Snowfall:
- 2.4 mm/38.1 mm
- 2.2 mm/21.7 mm
- 3.2 mm/14.7 mm
- 12.7 mm/10.9 mm
- 30.3 mm/3.1 mm
- 54.8 mm/trace
- 49.7 mm/----
- 48.4 mm/ 0.1 mm
- 36.8 mm/1.1 mm
- 24.2 mm/5.4 mm
- 8.6 mm/24.6 mm
- 5.4 mm/32.7 mm
History
The first recorded visit to the Athabasca Valley was by surveyor David Thompson in 1810. The North West Company built a supply depot on Brule Lake in 1813, a settlement which later became known as "Jasper House" after North West Company clerk Jasper Hawes .
With the decline of the fur trade, Jasper House was abandoned in 1884. The Dominion Government established "Jasper Forest Park" in 1907 with an area of circa 13,000 km². By 1911 the "Grand Trunk Pacific Railway" had reached Fitzhugh (now Jasper) Station. The Jasper-Edmonton road opened in 1928. In 1930, Jasper Forest Park was officially established as "Jasper National Park".
Government
The Municipality of Jasper is unique because of its location within a national park. Governance is shared between the Municipality of Jasper and the Parks Canada Agency.
The Specialized Municipality of Jasper was formed by the Province of Alberta on April 1, 2002. The Municipality of Jasper operates under an agreement with the Department of Canadian Heritage, giving it authorities over all municipal matters with the exception of land use planning, development and environmental matters.
Jasper is represented by an elected Mayor and six-member Council.
External link